Bliss N Eso - Big Day Out Interview

Big Day Out fan favourites Bliss n Eso were enjoying another stellar run at the top of the Aussie hip hop scene after the release of their much-celebrated album ‘Circus In The Sky’. Off the back of huge national tours last month and playing a colossal set spanning the length of their five albums, Bliss (Jonathon Notley), Eso (Max McKinnon) and DJ Izm (Tarik Ejjamal) sat down with Ruben Seaton backstage at Big Day Out 2014.

AACS: Bliss n Eso are back here at the Big Day Out - you’ve been here before in 2011, how does it feel to be performing at this massive event again?

Eso: Awesome! Everyone likes to come back mate, and it’s not like we’ve been gone, we’ve just been doing other shit for a while, but it’s insane to be back.

Izm: Bloody oath, we enjoy Australia festival scene just as much as we enjoy a local intimate show – they’re two different things but we just love getting out there and giving the people what they want to hear!

AACS: 2013 was obviously another massive year for you guys, highlighted by the release of your ARIA Gold-certified fifth album ‘Circus In The Sky’ and now you’re back on the road – you’ve recently finished your massive House Of Dreams Tour playing huge venues across the country – how does it feel to be touring again?

Izm: We just love touring and spreading the music, that’s our job, and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s the best job in the world.

Eso: It’s almost like we have on and off seasons – we have the off season where you’re in the studio and by the time that on season comes around you’re completely ready and excited and getting anxious to unleash what you’ve been working on, and we’re enjoying the on season now.

AACS: Circus In The Sky was a great album littered with fantastic tracks – from the inspirational ‘Pale Blue Dot’ to the hilarious ‘Act Your Age’ – but what was it like working with a live string section on ‘House of Dreams’?

Eso: I think that in the hip hop game a lot of it is sample-based, so when we had violins in our track it was always from a sample or something… so to have a real violin, you could feel the warmth of it.

AACS: Well, the people obviously could feel the warmth too – they voted it in number 94 in Triple J’s hottest 100, with ‘Act Your Age ‘ sneaking in there too at number 67, congratulations!

Izm: Yeah, bloody oath! You could hear it and feel it, just how epic it sounds… When people talk to us about the album it’s not long before they mention ‘House of Dreams’. I think it’s a lot of people’s pump-up song.

AACS: Now, I have a question for you: what is your all time favourite Quentin Tarantino film?

(Collective ‘ohhhhh fuuuuuck) Bliss: That’s too hard. There’s so many of them.

Eso: Dusk Till Dawn?

Izm: I know it’s new, but Django just fucking… rocked (collective ‘ohhh yeah’)

Eso: I seriously don’t think there is a movie he has done which is shit. If I had to pick to watch one director and one director only, it would be a battle to the death between Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. I could live off their films.

AACS: Another classic track off Circus in the Sky was the Tarantino-titled ‘Reservoir Dogs’, where you pretty much assembled a superhero squad of Aussie rappers – what was it like getting the boys together?

Eso: The funny thing is, we have known those guys for a long time – we had 360 and Pez supporting us for ages and toured with them, so it was just a matter of just a phone call away.

AACS: It’s a classically comedic track – is there a favourite verse or line for you guys?

Eso: Oooh, not really, I think it all congregates into one-

Izm: ‘Yo, my crew’s on some bullshit, and I ain’t talking bout a poo that a bull did’. That’s my favourite part of yours.

Eso: Oh shit, but I have to confess something.

Izm: What?

Eso: I didn’t even write that line.

(Collective shouts of shock/horror)

Eso: That line was written by Marty Smiles from Mind Over Matter and bought by me for 20 bucks and a twix bar.

AACS: Have you given him credit for that? Do the people know?

Eso: They do now… We just send each other rhymes now and then, and I got that one and said ‘How much do you want for it?’ and the deal was done. No copyright infringement.

AACS: There have been some big name features on your tracks before – John Butler Trio, The RZA, Xzibit- but what was it like working with the King of New York, Nasty Nas?

Eso: Well, you’ve got to put yourself back in our shoes when we were 16, listening to King and icons of that generation… Blessing, humbled, all those fucking words you can put together.

Izm: And after a while, meeting celebrities you just sort of expect to know what they are like when you don’t, and in reality, Nas was genuinely one of the nicest and most humble celebrities we have ever met. It was an honour.

Eso: I knew that he had just had a bad divorce with his wife, so I didn’t want to tell him I had just got married, but I did and he was so nice about it and I felt amazing.

AACS: We could talk all day about the collaborators in Circus in the Sky but there is one guy who really takes the cake...

Eso: I know who you’re talking about.

You know?

Eso: Oh yeah. Alex Motherfucking Shooterwilliamson.

AACS: You got it. What was it like working with the comedian / internet legend / self-proclaimed Loosest Aussie Bloke?

Izm: Oh god. The first time we heard about him, we just wanted to find out: is this real? Can he really be that loose? What is going on?

Eso: So we invited him over to our house in Campbelltown and we really just got on like a house on fire, he’s just a legend.

Izm: I think Dave Chappelle said it best: ‘Every comedian wants to be a rapper, and every rapper wants to be a comedian.’ They want the best of both worlds, and I think having him involved, especially because he is also a very talented singer and songwriter.

Eso: He wrote all these weird raps about heroin cats and shit – I don’t know, comedian stuff.

AACS: While many people remember you for being the funny, out-going types of Aussie hip hop, your music also has a sentimental and heart-warming side, perhaps best shown by your recent trip to Afghanistan for your ‘My Life’ video clip. What were your motives to going to Afghanistan and how has that affected you emotionally and musically?

Eso: Well, I’ve got to tell you, it’s a scary thing to even think about doing, straight off the bat. I mean, Call of Duty is enough for me.

Izm: Obviously we aren’t into war or anything like that but we were getting messages over Facebook from soldiers over there saying ‘It would mean so much to us if you came over’.

Eso: Yeah, we are totally against war, but we saw these guys and they needed a break, and we went over there and gave them a fucking good break. What’s better than morale? They fucking loved it. And I’m pretty sure we were the last ones to play – like when people look back years from now, like when people talk about ‘Nam, well people will be able to talk about Afghanistan and for us, as musicians, to be able to say that we went over there is something very special.

AACS: Bliss, Eso and DJ Izm, thanks so much for talking to All Ages Concerts Sydney!

Bliss: Thanks for having us dude, it was great.

Interviewed by Ruben Seaton

Photo by Geneva Valek view more here

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